On September 14th, the LebNet Bay Area committee organized a fireside chat featuring Amer Deeba, CEO and Co-Founder of Normalyze. Amer shared his professional journey with a group of 40 attendees.

During the conversation, Amer discussed his transition from a dedicated developer to a Chief Commercial Officer at Qualys and ultimately a Co-founder and CEO at Normalyze, a cybersecurity startup focused on cloud data security that he started during the pandemic.

Jibran Jahshan (left) moderating a session with Amer Deeba

The fireside chat comprehensively covered Amer's career trajectory, offering practical advice and insights. He talked about topics ranging from strategic tips to his concerns, emphasizing the qualities of an effective team and recounting how he met his co-founder. Amer also explored the customer and product journey, stressing the importance of prioritizing customer needs and the product/service in all business decisions for successful company growth. “The product has to be easy to adopt and delight its users,” he said. 

In terms of maintaining a connected and motivated dispersed team—given that most of Normalyze's 50 employees work remotely—Amer described his practice of crafting a detailed end-of-week communication that he shares with all employees, highlighting their achievements and project progress. He believes this fosters teamwork, transparency, and collaboration while maintaining alignment within the team. He encouraged the audience to monitor employee progress using KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and to hire autonomous leaders who align with the company's values, mission, and vision.

Amer delved into the subjects of funding and recruiting top talent, advising the audience to continually build a network of investors, technologists, and business visionaries who can contribute to the journey. When asked about Lebanon's talent and potential landscape, Amer underscored the country's impressive talent pool and expressed his interest in collaborating with Lebanese professionals on future ventures. He urged the audience to connect with him on LinkedIn to further the conversation.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Amer Deeba for his invaluable insights, and to  Jibran Jahshan, VP of Software Engineering at Nvidia, for skillfully moderating the discussion. A special thanks is also due to Silicon Valley Bank for graciously hosting the event, and to the dedicated LebNet Bay Area committee for their meticulous organization.  Lastly, we appreciate the enthusiastic attendance of the Bay Area community.  Stay tuned for upcoming events!